Classical music and the arts are
flowering as healers of people and relationships.In 1988, the AppleHillCenter
for Chamber Music in New Hampshire was a
musical pioneer in the Middle East public
peace process. Their expanded annual Playing for Peace Project --
http://applehill.org/p4p/
-- today promotes friendship, peace, understanding, and basic human contact
between and among Israelis, Arabs, Americans, Cypriots, citizens
of the Transcaucasus, citizens of Northern Ireland, people throughout Europe, Asia
and Latin America -- indeed all peoples of the
world. "PLAYING FOR PEACE: Music by Arabs and
Israelis as a metaphor for the public peace process" is a one-hour video
as totally instructive and timely as at its 1993 creation.This affordable video, a must-see to understand the
music-peace relationship, is available on the Web at:http://applehill.org/store/product_info.php?products_id=50

Daniel Barenboim,
as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, became the first of his
caliber to begin healing the Middle East and
beyond through classical music. His advances have not been without criticism,
with his willingness to play Wagner -- considered anti-Jewish in his lifetime
-- and to play in Ramallah in times of conflict.
LIFE magazine first reported that in 1999 --PIANO DIPLOMACY: A famed Israeli
musician makes an overture for peace -- remembered at:http://traubman.igc.org/piano.htm
In September, 2002 the New York Times reported:
"'Moonlight' and Mendelssohn in the West Bank,"
seen at:http://traubman.igc.org/messages/291.htm

In 1999 Barenboim
and his close friend, the late scholar Edward Said, established the visionary West-Eastern
Divan Orchestra for Middle Eastern youth musicians. The young women and men
continue gathering in summer to combine classical music study with
dialogue and sharing of their lives.
They share not only music stands, but living quarters
and meal tables.
They play sports and engage intimately in discussions
about identity and narratives about realities of their daily lives.
Their first CD/DVD -- BARENBOIM: WEST-EASTERN DIVAN
ORCHESTRA -- came out just weeks ago, July, 2005.The young Jewish and Arab musicians play
beautifully for peace -- Tchaikovsky, Verde and Sibelius.
The CD/DVD is also a documentary on "Lessons
in Harmony,"interviewing the young musicians and showing them at
work. And there is a historic portion: "In
Conversation: Daniel Barenboim and Edward
Said." The new album is described and available at:http://www.warnerclassics.com/release.php?release=4569

Today,
Monday, 22 August 2005, the Arab-Jewish youth ensemble orchestra gave an
unprecedented concert in Ramallah. They considered it a declaration event for
reconciliation and harmony.
Today's Ha'aretz reported on
both the controversies and Barenboim's words:
"For me, it is important to stress that everyone has an obligation to work
toward peace, in his field and with his own means."
You can read more at:http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=207422&contrassID=2&subContrassID=11&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

We end with another
description of the day in Ramallah -- a day of
life-changing music, with its capacity to lift us to our highest.--
L&L

Barenboim's orchestra plays for peace in RamallahCharlotte Higgins in Ramallah

In a concert hall atop a dust-swept, sun-beaten
hill yesterday afternoon, Daniel Barenboim was
putting an orchestra through its paces, urging them, as he brandished his way
through the opening bars of Beethoven's Fifth: "Wake up! If you are tired,
please stay at home! There's no point playing the concert like this. Now: TEE-yata-ta
TEE-yata-ta!"
One could forgive the players for being a little
distracted: the concert hall in which they were rehearsing was the CulturalPalace
in Ramallah, and the ensemble the West-Eastern Divan
Orchestra - the youth orchestra founded in 1998 by Barenboim
and his close friend, the Palestinian intellectual Edward Said, consisting of
musicians from Israel
and Arab countries.
This was a historic day. Few had dared hope that the
orchestra - which aims to foster dialogue and reconciliation through music -
would succeed in performing in the West Bank.
A similar attempt by the orchestra to play in Ramallah
last year was abandoned because of security fears.
It is not every day that one sees a rehearsal being
guarded by troops armed with semi-automatic weapons, but the atmosphere among
the musicians was relaxed and excited.
To enter Ramallah, each
musician was issued with a diplomatic passport by the Spanish government (the
orchestra's summer training camps are based in Seville). "Believe me, the logistics of
this concert are worth writing a book about," said Barenboim.
But, standing beneath the West
Bank barrier on Saturday at Ramallah'sQalandiya checkpoint, he praised the governments involved.
"We have had the utmost cooperation - and I'm not exactly shy; believe me,
I would certainly take this opportunity to complain if I needed to." NabeelAbboudAshkar, a 20-year-old Israeli-Arab born in Nazareth, said after the
rehearsal: "It's incredibly exciting to be here. All along the idea of the
orchestra was to play in Arab countries, and I hope now that it will fill its
whole potential; and I hope we will play in Israel.
"It takes great courage for the Israelis to come
to Ramallah, and finally get to see the reality of
how the Palestinians live. It's a very symbolic and strong gesture."
Last night the concert hall filled up half an hour
before the concert began, and then kept on filling.
In the end people were sitting three-deep in the
aisles and standing at the sides and the back of the hall, even the great and
the good of Ramallah reduced to a perch on the floor.
The first standing ovation came as Barenboim
walked on stage. Mozart's SinfoniaConcertante for oboe, horn, clarinet and bassoon was
embarked upon to a chorus of clicking shutters.